Dream Machine picking up steam

Filip Panovski / Staff Writer

Plastic bottles and aluminum cans don’t need to go to waste.

Near the beginning of the spring 2012 semester, the Biscayne Bay and Modesto Maidique campuses saw a new addition to their landscape: the Pepsi Co. Dream Machine.

The Dream Machine is part of an initiative undertaken by Pepsi Co. in partnership with Waste Management, the country’s largest recycling company. The machine itself is fitted with an interactive display, allowing frequent recyclers to be rewarded with redeemable points.

So far, the Dream Machines have accumulated more than 31,053 plastic bottles and around 6,000 aluminum cans, corresponding to around 2,500 pounds of recycled material.

Carrie Kashar, assistant director of the Office of University Sustainability, believes that awareness is one of the most important factors in getting people to recycle.

Earth Day and Recyclemania have been some of the events associated with an increase in environmental awareness and recycling rate. The University is taking the top spot in the latter event this year with around 250,000 pounds of recycled material.
Kashar is enthusiastic to see the University working towards the state-mandated requirement of a 75 percent recycling rate.

“It’s just a matter of awareness and we’re slowly getting there,” she said.

The University plans to implement a 30-50 percent recycling rate by 2015, and reach the state requirement by 2020.

Currently, students recycle only around 15 percent of their plastic bottles – a number that is foreseen to sharply increase as more events and Dream Machines are added around the campuses.

Unfortunately, Kashar notes that more Dream Machines may not be as easy to come by.

“The machines were a donation by Pepsi Co., around $30,000 in value, so we’re trying to contact them and get them to send a few more right now,” she said.

Some students had a positive reaction towards the Dream Machines’ concept but feel more information is necessary.

“There needs to be more advertising on the machines and a little more information on how FIU is trying to go green, but it’s a good start,” said Brian De Paula, a junior majoring in biology.  De Paula would be more inclined to use it if a neat set of instructions was put next to the machine informing people of its capabilities.

John Pisciotta, a freshman majoring in biology, never used the machines, but he thought that the addition of a recycling bin near every trash can is a good idea because it reminds people to recycle without having to walk much.

“I’m taking classes where a lot of the materials are online, on Blackboard, and professors encourage us to print them out all the time – sometimes 20 pages at a time and bring them to class. It defeats the purpose of it being an online class.”

The machines still lack redeemable coupons for local vendors on campus, most of which are present on the national level.